Seeney no match for LNP's new top guns in Canberra

Jeff Seeney, former Newman Government deputy premier and Member for Callide, had a thought bubble last week. Why not replace Warren Truss as the federal Member for Wide Bay?

His mind was no doubt exercised by the departures of Truss, McFarlane, Brough and Robert, leaving the prolix George Brandis, the obdurate Peter Dutton and youthful Wyatt Roy to bat for Queensland. And all Liberals.

Former Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney has been dumped from the LNP front bench. Photo: Renee Melides

Furthermore another Liberal, Gold Coast MP Steve Ciobo, was sprinkled with Malcolm's special pixie dust, succeeding Andrew Robb as Trade Minster. Robb, according to the farewell rhetoric, combined all the good qualities of Gandalf, Dumbledore and Obi Wan Kenobi. Never mind that the hard heads of the IMF and the Productivity Commission rated the trade deal gains as next to bugger all.

Moreover, for Jeff, things have been on the slide in Callide. Since the 2009 state election Seeney has lost over 12 per cent of his primary vote. In 2015 he garnered 46.5 per cent of the primary vote, down from 53.3 per cent in 2012, a slide of 6.6 per cent, notwithstanding that John Bjelke-Petersen for PUP scored 25.2 per cnt of the vote, and just short of the Katter Party vote of 26.6 per cent in 2012.

At the 2009 election Seeney scored 58.98 per cent of first preferences. A 6 per cent drop next time could put him at the mercy of the preferences of whatever fringe party emerges from the brigalow in the next two years.

Seeney's bigger problem, however, is that two Queensland LNP new boys have been out of the gates in Canberra faster than a rodeo bull. Senators James McGrath, 45, and Matthew Canavan, 35, came into the Senate after the 2013 election, and both have direct lines to PM Turnbull and Deputy PM Joyce.

Advertisement

Toowoomba-born McGrath, a qualified lawyer, has 15 years as an apparatchik, and drove the winning 2012 LNP campaign. A former adviser to London Mayor Boris Johnson, McGrath is well connected to UK Conservatives. Having worked in the UK 2002-2008, he knows the Crosby-Textor playbook well.

Turnbull rates McGrath and made him Minister assisting the PM in the first Turnbull ministry. Last week McGrath also became Assistant Minister for Immigration. His job is to keep the accident-prone Abbott-backer Peter Dutton on the straight and narrow on both politics and policy. I reckon he'll also be trying to sort the policy wedgie of keeping asylum seekers in offshore concentration camps and the prevention of drownings at sea.

Matthew Canavan, an economist, worked for the Productivity Commission and KPMG from 2003 to 2010, and then became chief of staff for Barnaby Joyce. Rockhampton-based Canavan, who regards McGrath as his political elder brother, became Assistant Minister for Northern Australia in the reshuffle last week.

This addresses the optics of having the Oxford and Harvard educated Melburnian, Josh Frydenberg, as minister. That said, Frydenberg visited Brisbane this week, (which for a Melburnian is northern Australia), and then Townsville.

Against such talent, Seeney is uncompetitive. Moreover, he turns 60 near year. His time has come and gone.

Dr John Harrison is senior lecturer in the University of Queensland's School of Communication and Arts.